Page 11 of The Challenge

Tightening the towel around me, I started to open the door, but he pushed it closed. “Stay back!” he ordered.

“Why? What the hell happened?”

“The light fixture fell. There’s glass everywhere.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not,” he answered, sounding pissed.

“How the hell did that happen?”

After a delay, he finally admitted, “I hit it with my head, and it came off the hinges.”

Covering my mouth, I tried to stifle my laughter.

“I’m glad you find that amusing,” Evan grumbled.

“I mean, come on. How am I supposed to not laugh at that? You know I’ve always had a problem with laughing at things I shouldn’t. It’s a visceral reaction.” I used a second towel to dry my hair.

“Well, so happy I could be your entertainment for the day.”

“I have to ask… How do you hit your head on a light hard enough that it comes crashing down?”

Evan sighed. “I’m too tall for this house, apparently, and that particular light hangs too low. I was rushing around, trying to get shit done before I have to go to work, and I didn’t duck. I normally remember to, but I’m a bit…distracted today.”

“I think you need to contact the owner and complain,” I quipped from behind the door.

“Very funny, wiseass.”

My face hurt from smiling. “Am I supposed to just stay in the bathroom?”

“Well, this is a problem, because there’s no fucking vacuum here.”

“Isn’t it the owner’s responsibility to stock the place with necessities?”

“We have a cleaning service that comes when it’s rented out, so no.”

I really wanted to get dressed. But that required getting to the bedroom. I’d only come in here with two towels and had walked in barefoot. “Am I trapped indefinitely?” I asked.

“I thought I could clean up all the pieces before you came out, but it’s not gonna happen without a vacuum. The shards are too small. Are you covered?”

“Yes.”

The next thing I knew, he’d opened the door and scooped me up. I felt weightless in his arms, the denim of his shirt rough against my skin. I breathed him in, but tried not to make it obvious. Evan carried me down the hall to my room, his boots crunching over what seemed like hundreds of pieces of glass.

After he placed me on the ground, Evan looked down at what was probably a stunned expression on my face. I cleared my throat, tightening the towel around me. But before I could say anything, he walked away, slamming the door behind him.

It might’ve seemed like a simple act, but being in his arms for those seconds had completely undone me. My heart raced. In all these years, I’d never had that kind of close contact with him. It seemed crazy to think he’d never held me like that before, given how close we’d been. But he and I had never actually been more than friends, so why would he?

I wasn’t prepared to feel him against me like that today, and my heart certainly hadn’t gotten the message that it meant nothing. Forcing myself to shake off the weird emotions bubbling to the surface, I got dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater. I added heavy boots for my treacherous trek through the hallway. I was already late to visit my mother.

When I emerged from the room, Evan was nowhere to be found. I wasn’t sure whether to feel relief or disappointment.

Then, just as I opened the front door to leave, Evan came toward me holding a vacuum. “Borrowed this from the neighbor,” he explained.

“Oh good.” I exhaled. “Anyway, I’ll be out of your way. I’m heading out to hopefully find another place after I visit Mom.”

“Whatever you want.” He heaved a sigh.